Sen. Dan Watermeier

District 1

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The Legislature completed Day 59 of this 60-day legislative session on Wednesday, April 13, when the remainder of the pending bills were read on Final Reading and sent to the governor. The governor has 5 days, excluding Sunday, to decide whether to sign or veto the legislation. Senators won’t meet for the last day until Wednesday, April 20, thereby allowing for the consideration of overriding any veto that might be made by the governor.

The Legislature passed LB 958 and LB 959, bills that were aimed at providing property tax relief. LB 958 increases the annual funding for the Property Tax Credit program by $20 million, with the additional funding distributed to agricultural landowners. This will be accomplished by valuing agricultural land at 90%, rather than 75%, of market value for purposes of calculating the property tax credit program. LB 959 eliminates the minimum levy adjustment which reduces state aid to districts with levies less than $0.95, removes the levy criteria from the averaging adjustment calculation and reduces the special levy school districts can use to address health, safety and accessibility problems in school buildings. This bill is projected to increase state aid to primarily rural school districts by $8.5 million.

Although these bills will provide for some property tax relief, I was disappointed that they didn’t go further. I will continue to work on the proposal to include a foundation aid component in the state aid formula. Foundation aid is a certain amount of funding per student, regardless of whether the school district qualifies for equalization funding. This would reduce the reliance on property taxes in the funding of our schools. An in-depth discussion of how this increase in state aid would be funded needs to take place. Additionally, there are some senators who are advocating for an income tax reduction, to make our state more competitive with surrounding states.

Also passed this past week was LB 960, which creates an infrastructure bank, funded by a $50 million transfer from the cash reserve fund and the commitment of $400 million in additional fuel tax revenue generated by the passage of LB 610 last year. This will allow the Department of Roads to accelerate work done on major highway projects, which could include finishing the expressway system. The funding will also be used for the repair and replacement of county bridges, as well as transportation improvements to attract and support economic development.

My priority bill, LB 744, received final approval from the Legislature. It will allow for the continuation of open adoptions in private and agency adoptions.

LB 886, which I co-sponsored, was also approved by lawmakers. It recognizes the contributions of our rural volunteer firefighters and rescue squad members by authorizing a $250 refundable income tax credit.

One bill that will not become law was LB 10, which proposed to return Nebraska to the winner-take-all system for the distribution of electoral votes in presidential elections. Another filibuster was initiated on Final Reading and this time the cloture motion to cut off debate fell one vote short, meaning that the bill is pulled from the agenda.

I encourage you to contact me as we complete this year’s legislative session. I can be reached at District #1, P.O. Box 94604, State Capitol, Lincoln, NE 68509. My email address is dwatermeier@leg.ne.gov and my telephone number is (402) 471-2733.